I've had a few conversations with people in the past week about HOW we look at our lives. Our lives can seem really grim to us, but to others looking at our lives, things don't really look that bad. Many times we only need one or two things to change for us to have a completely different outlook. We just get so caught up focusing on the things that are wrong/not going the way we want, that we lose sight of the bigger picture. And, most of the time, I think the bigger picture is that the majority of things are okay.
I don't want this to be a long post. It's just something I've been thinking about and talking with others about. Maybe, sometimes, we just need a fresh perspective. Maybe we need some input from some trusted friends or family. Maybe we just need to see God's heart for us and our situations.
Thoughts?
Sunday, April 28
Wednesday, April 17
Faith involves trust
Walking by faith involves a GREAT MEASURE of trust in the Lord. And I think COMPLETELY walking by faith would involve COMPLETELY trusting Him. I think it has always been encouraging to hear stories of great faith. They inspire me to want to step out and trust God and see what happens. I don't think I'll always get it right, but I think His grace can cover where I err. And I think He sees the heart.
I've been typing up some old sermon notes in my spare time (to get rid of a box full of notebooks taking up space, but that's another story). I went to school with a guy named Dean Gootee. My junior year he did a sermon about trusting the Lord. One thing I found profound when I was typing up these notes was when he said, "When we forget what He's done, we don't trust Him." He also said, "Thank Him for what He’s done in the past because when we remember His character, we trust Him." And I think that's it. When we forget God's faithfulness in our lives, we stop trusting Him. When we look at our circumstances instead of WHO HE IS, we stop trusting. But God's faithfulness is not dependent upon our circumstances. He DOES NOT CHANGE with each issue and problem.
My challenge to you: 1) remind yourself of how God has been faithful in your own life 2) share your stories with others to encourage them 3) listen to others' stories\ask them to share how they have seen God's faithfulness in their lives
I've been typing up some old sermon notes in my spare time (to get rid of a box full of notebooks taking up space, but that's another story). I went to school with a guy named Dean Gootee. My junior year he did a sermon about trusting the Lord. One thing I found profound when I was typing up these notes was when he said, "When we forget what He's done, we don't trust Him." He also said, "Thank Him for what He’s done in the past because when we remember His character, we trust Him." And I think that's it. When we forget God's faithfulness in our lives, we stop trusting Him. When we look at our circumstances instead of WHO HE IS, we stop trusting. But God's faithfulness is not dependent upon our circumstances. He DOES NOT CHANGE with each issue and problem.
My challenge to you: 1) remind yourself of how God has been faithful in your own life 2) share your stories with others to encourage them 3) listen to others' stories\ask them to share how they have seen God's faithfulness in their lives
Friday, April 12
Living in Lancaster County
Continuing on with my story since moving.
People told me that it took a lot of faith for me to move, but God built my faith even more after I moved. I had created a buffer (as much as I could) to hold me over until I got another job. Then I started feeling like God was telling me to hold off on job applications. Crazy. Then I started feeling to give money away from the buffer I had created. So my buffer ran out much sooner than I'd expected. And God just started providing for me. He used the time in the fall\early winter to teach me, draw me even closer to Him, build my faith even more, and to spend time praying for people. He really taught me about receiving. I've always been a giver. It was really hard for me to receive anything from people, and in turn, receive anything from the Lord. It was a crazy four months, but INCREDIBLE! In the midst of that, He provided EVERYTHING I needed and more. I could tell you story after story of how He provided from the smallest things to my rent, bills, gas money, and financial commitments.
At the end of December, I headed back home from spending a week and a half with my family for Christmas. As I was driving, a ball joint blew on my car. Thanks be to Jesus that I was only going like 15 mph getting off an exit and was just able to pull over without hassle. My AAA ran out the next day, but I was able to get my car towed to a shop near my house that night. When I heard back from the garage, they estimated it would be like $830 to fix my car. I told them since the car was only worth $850, I wouldn't be fixing it, and ended up junking my car.
God has taught me a lot about just trusting Him. PERIOD. My mind tends to wander to how things will get paid, etc, but He has continually taken care of me. He is FAITHFUL.
p.s. I didn't want to make a huge blog, but if you want to hear cool stories, get a hold of me. :)
People told me that it took a lot of faith for me to move, but God built my faith even more after I moved. I had created a buffer (as much as I could) to hold me over until I got another job. Then I started feeling like God was telling me to hold off on job applications. Crazy. Then I started feeling to give money away from the buffer I had created. So my buffer ran out much sooner than I'd expected. And God just started providing for me. He used the time in the fall\early winter to teach me, draw me even closer to Him, build my faith even more, and to spend time praying for people. He really taught me about receiving. I've always been a giver. It was really hard for me to receive anything from people, and in turn, receive anything from the Lord. It was a crazy four months, but INCREDIBLE! In the midst of that, He provided EVERYTHING I needed and more. I could tell you story after story of how He provided from the smallest things to my rent, bills, gas money, and financial commitments.
At the end of December, I headed back home from spending a week and a half with my family for Christmas. As I was driving, a ball joint blew on my car. Thanks be to Jesus that I was only going like 15 mph getting off an exit and was just able to pull over without hassle. My AAA ran out the next day, but I was able to get my car towed to a shop near my house that night. When I heard back from the garage, they estimated it would be like $830 to fix my car. I told them since the car was only worth $850, I wouldn't be fixing it, and ended up junking my car.
God has taught me a lot about just trusting Him. PERIOD. My mind tends to wander to how things will get paid, etc, but He has continually taken care of me. He is FAITHFUL.
p.s. I didn't want to make a huge blog, but if you want to hear cool stories, get a hold of me. :)
Tuesday, April 9
Moving to Lancaster County
Almost a year ago, my life changed quite a bit. I haven't blogged for about a year now, but I thought it would be fun to share my story for anyone who doesn't know it and try to start blogging again. I kind of miss blogging and a friend of mine suggested for me to start writing again. :0)
Tuesday, May 22, 2012-> Felt like God asked me to empty out my savings account and give it away. It wasn't a ton of money, but enough to help out in an emergency, etc. To sum it up, I felt God confirmed what I was feeling in a few various ways and I went ahead with it.
Thursday, May 24, 2012-> I wrote in my journal that a friend of mine had jokingly mentioned that I should move to Lancaster County and I had been rolling the idea around in my head. I realized that I didn't have much to lose my moving. (Sure, some friends and family, but I was single and had been feeling my time at my current job was coming to an end.) In the midst of writing in my journal, I got a STRONG impression that I was to call my friend (Jen Henson). She basically told me she was looking for a housemate. I felt like God was telling me "go" and "just go for it." I felt a total peace about it. (My logical side started rolling through all the details of moving in my head, but I felt like God was telling me to just trust Him.) I then wondered what Jen's parents would think about the idea of me living at their house.
Saturday, May 26,2012-> Emptied out my savings account, except for $50 to keep it open. Biggest check I've ever written.
Wednesday, May 30,2012-> Talked with Jen about how her parents felt about me moving down and she told me her parents had basically looked at each other and said "I think Lisa should move in with Jen." "Yeah, me too" and that was that.
About a week later, I made the commitment to move and told Jen I was coming for sure.
Throughout the summer, things happened that started to challenge my faith and my trust in the Lord. My car had some issues and I began to question if I really BELIEVED that God was good and if I really trusted Him. But I learned, really learned, that He is GOOD. He was building my trust in Him. And He is FAITHFUL.
To sum it up, I had decided to wait until the fall to move so I could build up a buffer. With the car issues over the summer, it was hard for me to save much of a buffer. But by the time I moved to Lancaster County, God had given me back more than I had given out of my savings. And that was ON TOP of my paychecks! Did I mention He is FAITHFUL? :0)
To be continued....
Tuesday, May 22, 2012-> Felt like God asked me to empty out my savings account and give it away. It wasn't a ton of money, but enough to help out in an emergency, etc. To sum it up, I felt God confirmed what I was feeling in a few various ways and I went ahead with it.
Thursday, May 24, 2012-> I wrote in my journal that a friend of mine had jokingly mentioned that I should move to Lancaster County and I had been rolling the idea around in my head. I realized that I didn't have much to lose my moving. (Sure, some friends and family, but I was single and had been feeling my time at my current job was coming to an end.) In the midst of writing in my journal, I got a STRONG impression that I was to call my friend (Jen Henson). She basically told me she was looking for a housemate. I felt like God was telling me "go" and "just go for it." I felt a total peace about it. (My logical side started rolling through all the details of moving in my head, but I felt like God was telling me to just trust Him.) I then wondered what Jen's parents would think about the idea of me living at their house.
Saturday, May 26,2012-> Emptied out my savings account, except for $50 to keep it open. Biggest check I've ever written.
Wednesday, May 30,2012-> Talked with Jen about how her parents felt about me moving down and she told me her parents had basically looked at each other and said "I think Lisa should move in with Jen." "Yeah, me too" and that was that.
About a week later, I made the commitment to move and told Jen I was coming for sure.
Throughout the summer, things happened that started to challenge my faith and my trust in the Lord. My car had some issues and I began to question if I really BELIEVED that God was good and if I really trusted Him. But I learned, really learned, that He is GOOD. He was building my trust in Him. And He is FAITHFUL.
To sum it up, I had decided to wait until the fall to move so I could build up a buffer. With the car issues over the summer, it was hard for me to save much of a buffer. But by the time I moved to Lancaster County, God had given me back more than I had given out of my savings. And that was ON TOP of my paychecks! Did I mention He is FAITHFUL? :0)
To be continued....
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